1989 Suburban 2WD 3/4 to 1/2 Swap?
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Hey folks, I live in Kentucky where the rust is plentiful, but a year or so ago, I picked up a very solid 89 Suburban 2wd, 454/th400 3/4 ton, for what I think was a good price of $600, not running. Luckily for me, a new $28 starter solenoid and a cheap Walmart battery and she fired up.
Plans for this truck have always been to stuff it on the ground, and make it a family friendly hot rod(I have 4 kiddos, 6 and under.) So I purchased a rolling chassis of another 89 suburban 2wd, but this time 1/2 ton. Simply stripped off all the 1/2 components and crushed the rest. Here is where I'm hoping for some help... I removed the springs/rear axle, and front crossmember and all suspension up front. BUTTTT, is the 3/4 and 1/2 crossmember the same. I feel like I pretty much need to pull the motor if I want to swap the crossmember, or if the control arm bolt sizes and everything else as far as connecting hardware goes, I'll just refurbish the existing 1/2 ton control arms, throw drop spindles on it, and a flip kit and I'll be where I want to be. |
Re: 1989 Suburban 2WD 3/4 to 1/2 Swap?
Seems like a damn shame to me :(
Great old 'Burban, you could pull a house trailer with it. |
Re: 1989 Suburban 2WD 3/4 to 1/2 Swap?
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Hopefully someone will know whether I'll need to swap to the 1/2 ton crossmember or can utilize the 3/4 that is currently installed so I wont have to yank the motor. |
Re: 1989 Suburban 2WD 3/4 to 1/2 Swap?
I would just swap everything from the a-arms out and leave the original crossmember in place.
Also use all the 1/2-ton steering. |
Re: 1989 Suburban 2WD 3/4 to 1/2 Swap?
You should be tarred and feathered for even considering a swap on that suburban. They only made 850 thousand of those!!!!
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Re: 1989 Suburban 2WD 3/4 to 1/2 Swap?
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The x-member is definitely interchangeable. I have a crossmember from a 1/2 ton under my 1-ton dually. |
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Re: 1989 Suburban 2WD 3/4 to 1/2 Swap?
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Re: 1989 Suburban 2WD 3/4 to 1/2 Swap?
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You can’t do that with the lower a-arm because the 3/4-ton ballpoint hole is larger than the 1/2-ton version. I would still not swap the crossmember itself. |
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Re: 1989 Suburban 2WD 3/4 to 1/2 Swap?
Since you already have the 1/2 ton crossmember unbolted you should be able to unbolt the engine from the mounts, and lift it up and if needed make a bar that holds it up that sets across the lips of the fenders much the same way one does when you hold a transverse engine up to swap transmissions. Then drop the crossmember out and raise the 1/2 ton unit back up in place and bolt it in all cleaned, painted and ready to go.
Remember that if you swap A arms, spindles and springs you have to: Take the spindles off. unbolt the UPPer A arms. Remove the springs unbolt the lower A arms. ^^^^ Twice Bolt the 1/2 lower A arms to the Crossmember Bolt the upper A arms on fight the springs back into place (easy for me, hard for some guys) bolt the spindles back on, A quick check of the upper control arm bolts will tell the story there. You may want to replace all the bushings and ball joints in the 1/2 suspension and that makes the bolt and unbolt a moot point. No photos but 20 years ago my son and I swapped front subframes under my wife's 76 Cad Seville by jacking the car up pretty high and blocking it up , using my gantry and chain hoist to hold the engine up. dropping the bent subframe out, sliding the good one in and raising it up and bolting it back together. It wasn't easy but we had it done in a weekend and my wife drove it to work on Monday. |
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I should just bite the bullet and yank the motor, it’s a slimy bastard and could stand to get some leaks fixed but it’s just me and I don’t want to yank it all apart and never get it back together. I’d like to just get it riding right and play with the motor another time. I might do like you said tho, just lift the motor and swap the crossmember. Heck who knows Posted via Mobile Device |
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